Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (born "Melvin Kaminsky" June 28, 1926) is an American multi-award winning director, writer, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer best known as a creator of broad film farce and comedy parodies. Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. Born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish-Jewish parents Maximillian Kaminsky and Kate "Kittie" Brookman. Brooks' grandfather, Abraham Kaminsky, was a herring dealer who immigrated in 1893. He and his wife Bertha raised their ten children on Henry Street on the Lower East Side of New York City. His father died of kidney disease at age 34. A year later, in 1930, Kittie Kaminsky and her sons Irving, Leonard, Bernard and Melvin were living at 365 S. 3rd St. in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. As a child, Mel was a small and sickly boy. He was bullied and picked on by his peers. By taking on the comically...